India is weighing a bailout package for its indebted state-owned power distribution companies that could be worth more than $11.3 billion (1 trillion Indian rupees), according to a draft plan by the Indian Power Ministry seen by Reuters. Indian authorities plan to reorganize the state distribution companies which have been run inefficiently for years and which are a major drag on India’s power system.  The plan, expected to be announced in February, envisages private companies to meet at least 20% of the total power consumption in any…

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Donald Trump to press China to end its support for Russia in its war against Ukraine when the US President meets his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during a tour of Asia this week. In wide-ranging comments made to reporters that were released on October 28, the Ukrainian leader said he was ready to hold peace talks anywhere except for Russia and its ally Belarus, though Ukraine is not ready to cede territory. "It's absolutely clear that we're approaching diplomacy only from the position where we currently…

Copper prices hit a record-high on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday amid a series of supply disruptions and brighter global economic prospects.  The benchmark three-month copper futures jumped to $11,146 per ton in London early on Wednesday, exceeding the previous record high of $11,104 a ton set in May last year.  This year, copper prices have rallied amid threats from the Trump Administration to impose tariffs on the industrial metal crucial for electrification and grid expansion. Trump backed off plans for a tariff, for now,…

India’s biggest refiner, state-held Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, is preparing to launch in early 2026 a trading joint venture with the world’s biggest independent oil trader, Vitol, to trade crude and fuels, a source familiar with the plans told Reuters on Wednesday.  Indian Oil, which together with its unit Chennai Petroleum holds about 31% of all of India’s refining capacity, had discussed a venture with supermajors BP and TotalEnergies and commodity trading giant Trafigura, before picking Vitol for the new trading JV, according…

India’s biggest refiner, state-held Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, is preparing to launch in early 2026 a trading joint venture with the world’s biggest independent oil trader, Vitol, to trade crude and fuels, a source familiar with the plans told Reuters on Wednesday.  Indian Oil, which together with its unit Chennai Petroleum holds about 31% of all of India’s refining capacity, had discussed a venture with supermajors BP and TotalEnergies and commodity trading giant Trafigura, before picking Vitol for the new trading JV, according…

Equinor (NYSE: EQNR) booked lower-than-expected earnings for the third quarter as liquids prices dropped from a year earlier. The Norwegian energy major on Wednesday reported an adjusted operating income of $6.21 billion for the third quarter of 2025, lower than the company-provided consensus of 21 analysts who had expected $6.31 billion, and below the $6.89 billion booked in the third quarter of 2024. Yet, the lower liquids prices were partially offset by higher production and higher gas prices in the U.S., Equinor said.   The Norwegian oil…

The OPEC+ group will decide this weekend on production levels for December, in the first meeting since the United States slapped sanctions on the two biggest oil firms in Russia, a key member of the OPEC+ alliance and its second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia.  The producer group led by the Kingdom and Russia has been managing supply to the market for nearly a decade, mostly by restricting oil output to ensure “market stability” in OPEC+ lingo; in other words, to support oil prices or at least put a floor under them. …

Shandong Yulong Petrochemical, China’s newest refinery, has swiftly become a potent emblem for the unintended effects of Western sanctions. Barely a year after its launch, the 400,000 b/d complex in Shandong province has purchased around 350,000 b/d of Russian crude for November delivery, effectively running almost entirely on discounted Russian oil after losing access to Western supplies following sanctions by the UK and EU. Its rise illustrates how punitive measures meant to isolate Moscow have instead bound together sanctioned Russian…

Liquefied natural gas has once again become trendy. After several years under attack from environmentalists, even the EU has accepted that natural gas, in whatever form it can get it, is going to stay in the energy mix for quite a while yet. The U.S. is building new export capacity like there is no tomorrow; Qatar is ramping up output; and Malaysia is boosting coal imports so it has more LNG to export. Over the first half of the year, Malaysia imported a record amount of thermal coal—the sort used for power generation. The total for the six-month…

US retail power prices have surged 13% since 2022, outpacing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and driving higher costs for consumers. While many have pointed to rising demand from data centers as the culprit for the increase, Rystad Energy’s analysis shows that data centers have yet to significantly influence power prices in the current terms. Our research points to the full price impact of data centers emerging closer to 2030, driven by the completion of a wave of data center infrastructure and more centers coming online. Rystad predicts that…